1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical connector employed to connect optical fibers or the optical fiber and an optical element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, there are the optical connectors shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 as the two-core optical connector.
This optical connector 100 includes a housing main body portion 101, and a boot body 110 coupled to the rear side of the housing main body portion 101.
The housing main body portion 101 is made up of a housing casing portion 102 formed like a casing whose rear side and upper side can be opened, and a housing lid portion 103 fitted to close the upper opening of the housing casing portion 102. The housing main body portion 101 is formed such that ferrule portions 120 fitted to end portions of the optical fiber cores 131 respectively can be arranged and installed therein. Also, the boot body 110 is coupled to the rear portion of the housing main body portion 101 in the situation that it holds a pair of optical fibers 130 inserted therein.
The assembling of the optical connector 100 is carried out as follows.
First, a pair of optical fibers 130 are inserted into the boot body 110 and then pulled out forwardly therefrom. Then, optical fiber cores 131 are exposed by stripping off covering members at top end portions of the optical fiber cords 130. Then, the exposed top end portions of the optical fiber cores 131 are inserted in the ferrule portions 120 and fixed thereto. Then, the ferrule portions 120 are arranged in parallel in the housing casing portion 102 and then the boot body 110 is positioned in the rear opening of the housing casing portion 102. In this state, the housing lid portion 103 is fitted to close the upper opening of the housing casing portion 102. At this time, a holding piece 104 provided downward vertically from the rear end portion of the housing lid portion 103 is inserted into a slit portion 111 formed at the front end portion of the boot body 110. Accordingly, the boot body 110 is fixed to and held by the housing main body portion 101.
Meanwhile, in the optical connector 100 described above, in the case that the two-core optical connector in which the covering member is formed around a pair of optical fiber cores is employed, a pair of optical fiber cores exposed at the top end side of the optical fiber cords are moved toward the center of the boot body 110 in the width direction when the boot body 110 is fitted into the rear opening of the housing casing portion 102 in the situation that the optical fiber cords are inserted into the boot body 110. Therefore, there is the possibility that, when the housing lid portion 103 is fitted to close the upper opening of the housing casing portion 102, top end portion of the holding piece 104 is pushed against the optical fiber cores by the strong force and thus the optical fiber cores are damaged.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical connector capable of preventing damage of optical fiber cores in assembling steps.
To achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an optical connector comprising a housing main body portion for installing and holding a pair of ferrule portions fitted to top end portions of a pair of optical fiber cores, which are exposed from a top end portion of a two-core optical fiber cord, respectively in a predetermined parallel manner; and a cord receiving portion coupled to a base end side of the housing main body portion, for holding an end portion of a covering member of the optical fiber cord; wherein the housing main body portion includes a housing casing portion formed like a casing whose end side coupled to the cord receiving portion and upper side are opened and which can hold the pair of ferrule portions therein in the predetermined parallel manner, and a housing lid portion for closing an upper opening of the housing casing portion, whereby holding pieces formed on end sides of the housing casing portion or the housing lid portion coupled to the cord receiving portion are inserted into holding-piece passing holes formed in the cord receiving portion at positions between a pair of optical fiber cores that are led from the cord receiving portion to the housing main body portion such that a coupled state between the housing main body portion and the cord receiving portion is maintained, and the cord receiving portion includes a pair of cord receiving split members each having cord holding concave portions for receiving and holding an end portion of a covering portion of the optical fiber cord respectively and core-guiding-path forming concave portions for leading the pair of optical fiber cores, that are extended from a top end portion of the optical fiber cord received and held in the cord holding concave portions, to an outside, and the holding-piece passing holes into which the holding pieces are passed therethrough are formed at portions that correspond to the core-guiding-path forming concave portions in the cord receiving split members, and a pair of guiding pins for guiding the pair of optical fiber cores, that are extended from a top end portion of the optical fiber cord received and held in the cord holding concave portions, to positions not to interfere with the holding pieces, that are inserted into the holding-piece passing holes to pass through a space between the core-guiding-path forming concave portions, are provided to the core-guiding-path forming concave portions to protrude therefrom.
Also, according to a second aspect of the invention, preferably the pair of guiding pins in the core-guiding-path forming concave portions are formed at positions, that do not interfere with each other in a coupled state of the cord receiving split members by shifting them in a longitudinal direction of the cord receiving split members, and also have a height to reach inner peripheral surfaces of the core-guiding-path forming concave portions that oppose to each other in the coupled state of the cord receiving split members.
Also, according to a third aspect of the invention, preferably structures having a same shape and a same size are employed as the pair of cord receiving split members.
In addition, according to a fourth aspect of the invention, preferably outer peripheral portions of top end portions of the guiding pins are chamfered.